The invention relates to the field of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) for electrical switching, and in particular to a piezoelectrically actuated latching relay with liquid metal contacts.
Liquid metals, such as mercury, have been used in electrical switches to provide an electrical path between two conductors. An example is a mercury thermostat switch, in which a bimetal strip coil reacts to temperature and alters the angle of an elongated cavity containing mercury. The mercury in the cavity forms a single droplet due to high surface tension. Gravity moves the mercury droplet to the end of the cavity containing electrical contacts or to the other end, depending upon the angle of the cavity. In a manual liquid metal switch, a permanent magnet is used to move a mercury droplet in a cavity.
Liquid metal is also used in relays. A liquid metal droplet can be moved by a variety of techniques, including electrostatic forces, variable geometry due to thermal expansion/contraction and magneto-hydrodynamic forces.
Conventional piezoelectric relays either do not latch or use residual charges in the piezoelectric material to latch or else activate a switch that contacts a latching mechanism.
Rapid switching of high currents is used in a large variety of devices, but provides a problem for solid-contact based relays because of arcing when current flow is disrupted. The arcing causes damage to the contacts and degrades their conductivity due to pitting of the electrode surfaces.
Micro-switches have been developed that use liquid metal as the switching element and the expansion of a gas when heated to move the liquid metal and actuate the switching function. Liquid metal has some advantages over other micro-machined technologies, such as the ability to switch relatively high powers (about 100 mW) using metal-to-metal contacts without micro-welding or overheating the switch mechanism. However, the use of heated gas has several disadvantages. It requires a relatively large amount of energy to change the state of the switch, and the heat generated by switching must be dissipated effectively if the switching duty cycle is high. In addition, the actuation rate is relatively slow, the maximum rate being limited to a few hundred Hertz.
An electrical relay is disclosed that uses a conducting liquid in the switching mechanism. In the relay, two electrical contacts are held a small distance apart. The facing surfaces of the contacts each support a droplet of a conducting liquid, such as a liquid metal. In an exemplary embodiment, a piezoelectric actuator, coupled to first electrical contact, is preferably energized close the gap between the electrical contacts, causing the two conducting liquid droplets to coalesce and form an electrical circuit. The piezoelectric actuator is then de-energized and the electrical contacts returns to their starting positions. The liquid metal droplets remain coalesced because of surface tension. The electrical circuit is broken by energizing a piezoelectric actuator to move the electrical contacts farther apart to break the surface tension bond between the conducting liquid droplets. The droplets remain separated when the piezoelectric actuator is de-energized because there is insufficient conducting liquid to bridge the gap between the contacts. The relay is amenable to manufacture by micro-machining techniques.